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Welcome to Your Childminding Journey.

Whether you are considering childminding as a career or you are an established childminder with years of experience, we hope you will find this learning and development resource useful. It has been written in full consultation with childminders and aims to support you throughout your childminding journey to provide the highest quality care for children.

Children can expect childminders to provide a warm, loving and caring environment in which they are valued and respected as individuals. They can expect a wide variety of experiences which enable them to grow, learn and develop. They will play, have fun and socialise with others in a home environment and in the wider community. The Health and Social Care Standards set out what children can expect when using care services in Scotland.

Creating a home-from-home environment in which you support children to grow, learn and develop can be rewarding and fulfilling. You are likely to develop a unique bond with each child that you care for and will play an important part in their development and learning at crucial stages in their lives. You will be developing yourself and your service to meet the children’s needs and enable them to have the best possible start in life. You will also be working closely with their families and may develop relationships that could last for years.

Choosing childminding as a profession will enable you to develop a range of skills and knowledge which can last a lifetime. By setting up and running a successful small business and enabling many other families to go back to work you are directly contributing to the economy of the whole country. You will develop your business in your own way, using your own ideas, skills and experience to provide the best outcomes for children. You may choose to work with a particular age of children, or with all ages. You may wish to offer a full time, part time, holiday or even an overnight service. No matter what type of service you offer, you will need to consider how you are meeting the needs of children and providing the best possible outcomes for them.

This learning and development resource will help you with that.

Here’s what some childminders say about their career:

“…after 25 years I am still thoroughly enjoying it, and am now looking after children whose parents I minded. I feel very happy with the career I chose and can honestly say it is one of the most rewarding jobs you could do”

“…for the first time ever I can say I truly love my job”

“…hard work but very rewarding”

“…I continue to thoroughly enjoy providing vital support to the children and parents who use my service”